The retrofitting of energy-efficient windows and doors is vital to bringing millions of social homes in line with net zero and thermal performance standards, a new report has claimed.

Retrofit Right – Making Social Housing More Energy-Efficient explores how the sector can decarbonise 4.4 million UK social homes across the UK – mostly built between 1945 and 1980 – in line with legislative requirements and available funding.

Produced by polymer specialist REHAU, the report attempts to demonstrate the nature of informed specification of window and door systems, and underlines what it concludes is the importance of these key components in affecting heat loss in residential properties, detailing relevant standards, regulations and metrics such as those governing thermal performance, noise attenuation, security and ventilation.

The report goes on to emphasise the importance of local authorities establishing, bolstering and maintaining supply chains to ensure the specification of high-quality components in these retrofitting efforts.

According to Martin Hitchin, CEO of REHAU UK, this third-party supply chain support is also key to bridging knowledge gaps and easing workloads within the social housing sector that may be exacerbated by the scope of the required works.

Hitchin said: “The UK’s residential sector is under great pressure to reduce emissions in line with net zero targets, including a 78% drop in emissions by 2035 and carbon neutrality by 2050.

“As social housing is publicly owned, there’s undoubtedly additional pressure on local authorities to decarbonise, and also to ensure that every pound spent works as hard as possible to achieve the desired energy efficiency improvements. For strained local authorities and housing association teams, this combination of raised expectations and the sheer scale of decarbonising millions of social housing properties make this a daunting challenge.

“As major sources of heat loss within properties, windows and door systems have a key role to play in improving the thermal performance of social housing. This is why we launched this latest whitepaper – it provides valuable advice on how to approach the frame specification and upgrading process, complying with relevant standards and regulations, and the importance of medium retrofits in achieving these goals.”